Hitherto, drill rods have been stored and handled by means of various magazines and magazine forms. For example, document DE 40 30 525 C2, which portrays the generic device, has disclosed a rod magazine for a rock drill machine, which magazine has two receiving devices which are spaced apart, are arranged on a mounting which supports a drill drive and each have a guide fork for accommodating drill stems in a parallel plane to the mounting. By means of hydraulic cylinders, the receiving devices can be displaced toward the drilling axis until the drill stem which is to be removed from the receiving device bears against a guide surface and is released from the receiving device. Then, it is screwed to the drill string. These movements are controlled with the aid of contactless switches with electronic switching elements which interact with switching lugs. Such a complex arrangement of sensors does not rule out the possibility of incorrect functional sequences, owing to the sensitivity of the switching elements to the severe operating conditions involved in the use of a drilling implement.
DE 297 03 271 U1 has disclosed a drilling implement with a rotable drum magazine for drill tubes which is arranged on a mounting, in which implement a handling device is provided for removing the drill tubes from the drum magazine; this handling device has a telescopic gripper arm with a gripper. However, a considerable outlay on control engineering is required for the fully mechanized actuation of the handling device.